Operation Lycanthrope
by PockyNerd
Summary: The only activity the turtle brothers have to keep track of is a sudden werewolf-like activity. April immediately recognizes one of the werewolves from previous encounters with a group that was previously run by the Foot Clan. In total there are 5 escaped experiments but only 1 is important to the werewolves and to the scientist Damien.
1. Chapter 1

Be silent. Be quick. Don't let them see you coming. Keep your guard up. And finally never work alone, always as a team. These were the rules of a ninja but they were not the rules of teenage brothers.

Raphael and Leonardo fought again, this time over which channel to watch on TV. Donatello scolded Michelangelo for spilling grape soda all over his computer, essentially destroying it. Splinter couldn't be among the peace and quiet of his own mind, he hasn't for years, but he didn't mind it.

April threw a box of pizza on the table. She looked so much older, to Splinter, and so much wiser. She knew to quickly grab the slices she wanted before the brothers noticed the smell and Splinter followed her with quick hands. As always Michelangelo was the first to notice and he was the first to start eating. The other brothers followed behind him.

Splinter nibbled on his while he listened to their continuing arguments. He smiled. April was like a sister to their dysfunctional family.

Shock and sadness in her eyes made Splinter turn his head toward the television. The woman on the news was showing pictures and talking about a science lab. April turned up the volume and sat on the couch and listened intently.

"What's wrong, April?" Michelangelo asked. The brothers had stopped fighting at some point while the woman was trying to interview witnesses.

"That lab…I'm very familiar with it." She rubbed her forehead. "Everybody who pays attention to the science community is."

Donatello's face brightened with recognition. "Did anybody get out?" He asked her quickly.

"It doesn't look like it. All of those…" She stopped her sentence short. Her face saddened Splinter's heart. April was the type of person where you couldn't help but mimic her emotions. If she smiled, you smiled. If she was angry, you were angry. If she cried, you cried. Even Raphael couldn't escape the tight grip she held.

"What? What died?" Michelangelo, as usual, couldn't feel the gloom in the room. The rest of the unspoken sentence shot right over him.

"Not what. Who, Mikey." Donatello answered.

"They were all just children," April finally whispered. Everyone sat in silence. Splinter walked over to the TV and turned it off so that they were left in the peace of silence. This was the only time Splinter knew that the brothers were not fighting or making any noise at all.

Finally, April spoke, "I visited that place once or twice. I would visit periodically to check their progress or to help them out with something. It was…I guess almost five years ago when I last visited. They had a few teenagers still living. The oldest one was sixteen years and the youngest was only ten. There were five of them, all very nice kids. In fact, you guys kind of remind me a little of them." There was a smile but it wasn't a happy one, it was sad and full of memories that her eyes saw in the TV.

"What was the experiment?" Leonardo asked, his tone was respectfully dark.

"Creating the perfect weapon for the military is what they claimed. But honestly, I'm not too sure. The only thing I am sure of is they often said only one was successful." April leaned her head against her hand and she smiled at the memories but a tear ran down her cheek.

Splinter jumped at the loud alarms. He was getting too old for these sirens. The turtles rushed toward the screens. "One of them is offline," Donatello relayed.

"Then that's where they are!" Raphael's voice started sounding distant.

"Wait, Raph!" Leonardo followed and behind him, Splinter suspected, were the other two brothers.

Splinter calmly cleaned up the table.

"The youngest one," April started suddenly, "she was different than the rest of them. She wanted to be everyone's friend. She had no idea that the life she was leading wasn't normal. I think the other scientists even treated her differently. They favored her for some reason."

What could he say? There was nothing to say. Simply sitting by the girl seemed to calm her and comfort her. "Thank you, Splinter." He didn't know what she was thanking him for, but maybe they were words she felt she needed to say even if the meaning behind the words was different than he thought.

* * *

How could Raphael be so reckless? Why was Leo even surprised, he was often reckless! There was no time to scold him now. He followed Raph through the sewers. Raph was always a few feet ahead of them.

He stopped suddenly. "What the-" Before he could finish his sentence he was attacked by an oversized wolf. Something wasn't right about the about the wolf but there was no time to figure out why. Leo jumped with katana in hand and brought the katana down on the wolf. The wolf moved out of the way and focused its attention on them.

The shape of it was odd like it was hunched over and it stood on two instead of four legs. It had claws, like a wolf, but it stood taller than any man Leo had ever seen. It attacked Leo and he moved his katanas in an X to block its attack. Mikey tackled it to the ground and pinned its head to the ground. The creature stopped struggling and made a low growling sound.

"Why is there a wolf in the sewers?" Raph demanded.

"Guys, this isn't a wolf." Don was messing with his newest gadget that looked much like a tablet and out of it came a very slow song, almost like a lullaby. The creature stopped growling to listen.

"Hey, it's relaxing!"

"Shh!" Everyone shushed Mikey and waited until the song was over. Raph removed Mikey but the creature had disappeared and was replaced with a boy! The boy was fast asleep.

"What just happened?" Leo demanded of Don.

He only shrugged.

* * *

 _The fire, it surrounded her. The smog choked her. She saw them running but her feet wouldn't move. She couldn't scream. When she did run her legs melted into the floor and her eyes became heavy so she closed them, knowing she would die._

The floor was cold and hard. Kat realized soon that she was in a cage. Her auburn hair covered her face. Jason, Jeremy, Vince, and Nathan were nowhere around. Were they all free?

"You're awake." The voice made her heart sink to her stomach. Slowly she looked up and saw Nathan. He was the oldest out of all of them and the toughest, Kat thought. Nathan was in a cage next to hers. His black hair was matted and came down to his shoulders and his smile was just as warm as the fire.

"I thought you had escaped," she said quietly and sadly.

"Nah, I had to come back for you, Sis." He smiled.

"You shouldn't have, Nathan." The opening of a door made her jump and anger welled in her chest.

Nathan kept talking. "They nearly left me to burn but I convinced them that it was better to keep me." He explained even though _they_ came. The men in white coats, playing doctor when they really didn't know what they were doing when they checked their forms.

On the clipboard that hung on the cages she knew it said _Operation: Lycanthrope._


	2. Chapter 2

April couldn't believe her eyes! Jeremy, the second youngest, was fast asleep. She didn't hear the story at all. She touched the boy's forehead and softly moved one of his jet-black hairs.

The movement startled him. Jeremy shot up and tackled her and growled but as soon as he recognized her face he stopped. "April?" He felt her face before letting her up like he couldn't believe it. At first everyone had their weapons drawn, except for Don who had his speakers out and ready, but when they stood they lowered their guard.

Splinter stroked his beard as he watched them. "You two know each other?"

April nodded. "Remember the story I told you guys earlier? He was one of the child experiments. He's one of five."

"So, why was he this weird werewolf creature?" Leo hit Mikey for the dumb question.

Jeremy looked up at her then at them and then he answered, "Because I am a werewolf."

Mikey laughed. "Werewolves aren't real!" Raph elbowed him in the stomach.

Jeremy sat on the couch and rubbed his forehead. April sat next to him. "What happened?" She asked.

"It was an escape plan." Everyone listened closely. "It was my idea. Just a little harmless set something on fire thing so when they let us out of our rooms for the day I went to the labs. But it kind of backfired. I used too much accelerant and the entire thing went whoosh!" Jeremy raised his hands dramatically to show how fast the building went up. "We were running toward the exit when I heard Nathan say Kat wasn't with us and that he would be right behind us. Outside we were attacked by some of the security guards and we all Shifted."

Donatello couldn't help but ask, "April said only one of you were a successful experiment."

Jeremy had always been very intuitive. Even though there wasn't really a question spoken aloud Jeremy knew exactly what he asked. "Our little sister, Kat. She's the youngest but she's the only one who can control her Shifting. The rest of us can't. We'll Shift if we're scared or angry or sad or overwhelmed or...really it's whenever there's too much outside stimulation. And she's the only one of us who can control the stages of her Shifting. She's faster and stronger and…and she was the perfect test subject." Jeremy rubbed his hands and then his neck. His eyes were far off. April didn't think he even knew he was talking aloud. "And…she's not like the rest of us. She was a test subject from the time she was an embryo but the rest of us were human at some point in our lives. None of us remember what that was like, though."

April's hand startled him from his thoughts. "You should rest, Jeremy. You've had a long day."

"I can't. My brothers are out there still and Kat-"

"We'll find them. Don't you worry about them. Jason is pretty tough and street smart and Vince…"

The young boy grinned sheepishly. "Vince is a creature all his own?"

April laughed. "Yes. He's a creature all his own."

Jeremy finally agreed to rest. He didn't think they'd give him a room so he laid his head in her lap and soon he was snoring away. She stroked his hair while the brothers and Splinter spoke.

* * *

They checked her for burns or scarring. The scientists didn't bother with checking Nathan. Why did they even keep him if they didn't want him? Unfortunately Kat knew the answer she just didn't want it to be true.

"She's as healthy as she was before the fire." They confirmed. "She'll be ready in a week, just as planned."

This lab was small. So small that they couldn't keep the gorilla cages they had before so while Kat got to live outside of the cages if she chose Nathan was kept locked away in a smaller cage than before. It was his punishment for setting the old lab on fire but Kat never really did anything to anger the scientists. They weren't worried about her running away, especially if they kept Nathan locked away.

When Kat and Nathan were alone she got down from the squishy bed and walked to him. She put her hand through the bars and took ahold of his hand. He squeezed hers.

"You're tense," he observed.

"You would be too if you were me."

"Yeah, true. But nobody would have let you come after me, either." His finger ran over her knuckles. "Kat, you need to get out of here the first chance you get." Nathan's face was distorted in seriousness and a little anger and disgust. Not at her but at the non-humane experimentation.

"But Nate-"

"I can take care of myself, Kat. You don't need to worry about me if I can't follow. I'm worried about you."

Kat frowned. She couldn't leave him. She couldn't think about leaving him. "I'm not leaving without you," she whispered.

The door opened and swung itself shut. Kat didn't want to look. She hated him. He looked just like her and she hated him for it.

* * *

When Jeremy awoke he showed Donatello where the next building may be based off of a map he once saw but, according to him, the map wasn't nearly as sophisticated as the one Donny showed him.

Meanwhile, Splinter swept. There wasn't much thinking to sweeping, which is why he swept. He needed to sweep so he could think. He needed to think before the brothers ran off blind into the city to save people who may or may not be alive.

"There! What symbol is that? I recognize that symbol!" Jeremy spoke too quickly. He had nearly as much energy as Michelangelo.

"That's the Foot Clan's symbol," Donatello told him. "They were disbanded long ago."

Splinter stopped sweeping to observe the scene. Jeremy shook his head at what he was told. "That's what you think. No, this symbol is everywhere! Every door has it."

"How can they be active without a leader?" Donatello's voice was challenging but Jeremy didn't back down.

"They have one. I don't know his real name but I know most of his security codes. I memorized them while we were there. We could only call him Master. Kat and Nathan are the only ones that know his real name but they refuse to call him anything else except Lucifer."

"Named after the angel that betrayed his master."

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"Well, if you can give me his old security information I'll see if it goes with any of the buildings within the city." How Donatello followed the boy's information was beyond Splinter's understanding. While Jeremy rattled in a buzz of sounds April put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm worried about the others…" she told him her secret.

"Leonardo will find them, April." It was an empty promise.


	3. Chapter 3

He had brunette hair, bright blue eyes, and fair skin. This man looked exactly like Kat and she hated him for it. She heard his footsteps click and echo but she didn't let go of Nathan's hand until she was forced away from the cage. He forced her to stand and look up at him.

She knew his name and Nathan knew his name but her other brothers didn't. They called him Satan. Lucifer. His real name was Damien. He was a middle-aged man with dark circles under his eyes. He hardly slept.

Damien ran his hands through her hair and rested them on her cheeks. In his eyes was a look of relief and a twisted kind of happiness. "I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered to her.

Kat bit her tongue. The things she really wanted to say she was scared to say it. As long as they had Nathan she'd be scared to say it.

He tucked loose strands of hair behind her ears. "Soon you'll have to show everybody what you are. We can't continue the training like normal but we can try our best with what we're provided here." His hands finally rested on her shoulder.

Maybe this was her chance. Maybe she could negotiate. "The cage you put Nathan in is too small." Damien's face changed to disgust. "You don't plan on showing him off so just let him go." He shoved her before she could finish. Her back struck the cage but it didn't hurt her. She started to yell, "You don't need him! And if you can't let him go then you can't guarantee a show."

From the pocket of his coat he took out a folded up, long, pole. With the push of a button the pole extended. At one end there were two prongs that played with buzzing electricity. "Are you sure you really mean what you say, Kat?" That disgusting look in his eyes was long gone now.

Kat nodded. "You can't-" She never did finish what she needed to say. He struck her in the stomach. The electricity did hurt still. It bit up her skin and it made everything around her go quiet and the lights she hated to see was covered in a black blanket. When the warmth of the electric pulses subsided she could feel the cold and hard ground.

* * *

They watched the news stations closely, looking for any strange activity. There was nothing.

Jeremy was fast asleep on the couch. He fell asleep the same way every night since he was found a few days ago; with his head on April's lap. He could feel if April moved and he would immediately wake up. Sometimes he would wake up, screaming for his youngest sister, Kat.

It broke Leo's heart. He could imagine what it was like and how confusing the city must have been the first time Jeremy stepped outside. Except the first time he did that he was immediately left alone. The oldest, the leader, the protector, wasn't here to do his job. He was protecting someone they thought needed it more.

Would Leo do the same thing? Would he leave the rest behind to save Mikey or Donny?

Actually, he knew the answer already. The answer was yes, he would.

Finally Donny nudged him and pointed at the screen. It was a video of some wolves in a park. Leonardo decided it was best if they all went and he hoped that calming music would work.

They never told their master where they were going. They just left the cold sewers. It was easy to go to parks in their van full of equipment. Raphael drove like a madman, going ten miles over the speed limit and yet somehow being careful of cops. All the while Leonardo helped Donatello connect wires and cords to each other.

"No, this wire goes here!" He said at one point. They were trying to get the speakers to work. Leonardo wasn't used to taking orders from somebody else.

"Here?"

"No! Here, give that to me!" He finally took the wires from his hands and connected them himself. "Give me that USB cord there." Leonardo grabbed cords at random while Donny scolded him about not getting the right ones.

The van came to a sudden stop. "Guys, we're here!" Mikey informed. "Now what?"

Leo opened the back of the van and looked out. The wolves were growling and staring right at them. They looked a little bigger than Jeremy. "Don, are you ready?"

"No, we need to connect the computer to the speakers and then I have to find the song I found last time. You two will have to make sure that they don't go after anybody else." Donny went to work looking up things on his computer while scolding Leo for not grabbing the right cords.

Leo didn't even feel the car move when Raph and Mikey got out. He could hear barking from the wolves and he could hear the punches they made. "This one?" He finally picked up the right cord. Donny ripped it from his hold and jammed it into the laptop. He hit a button and the lullaby played again.

Leo turned and watched. "Um, guys, nothing's happening!"

"Yeah, I can see that, Leo." Donny went to work at the computer.

"Well do something!" Raph had one of them pinned. The wolf snapped its jaws at his head but couldn't reach very well.

"I'm trying everything as fast as I can!" Donny screamed. "Just shut up!"

Mikey was flung into the side of the van. The van rocked and Leo almost thought it would topple over but thankfully it came back down into place. He jumped out and just as he did a third wolf appeared, smaller than the others. It lunged at the wolf that flung Mikey into the van. Mikey, meanwhile, was too dizzy to even stand.

Leo helped up his brother and soon the growls were lost in the dark. Raph grunted as he stood. His arms were bit and cut up and a naked boy replaced the wolf he held down. Donny threw a blanket over the boy.

Jeremy carried a smaller boy. Jeremy wrapped the boy in a blanket. "How did you know we were out here?" Donny asked.

Jeremy shrugged. "I saw it on the news. Come on, let's get out of here before Damien catches wind of our whereabouts."

* * *

April paced from one wall to another, biting her lip, until they came through the door with two children. April sighed in relief and watched them lay the two boys.

"Jason and Vince," Jeremy sat in front of the couch that they laid on. "I'm so glad you two are okay." Jason and Vince couldn't hear Jeremy. They were fast asleep. They slept peacefully and quietly.

Jason had bright blond hair while Vince had bright red hair. Both boys had one green and one blue eye. Both of their skins were pale.

On the coffee table behind him were clothes that the turtles had collected over the years. They were pretty clean for being in the sewers. Jeremy would have them dressed…eventually.

"That leaves two," April said. "When do you guys plan on going after the other two?"

The blare of the TV interrupted whatever it was Donatello was about to say. All eyes turned toward the bright screens. A woman was on the news with a man April didn't recognize. The name that was at the bottom was Damien.

"April, what's this word?" He pointed at the name.

"Damien," April said quietly. She didn't think the boy could hear her but he did. She knew because he never asked after that.

"…So what have you been working on?" April finally tuned into what was being said.

Damien ran his fingers through his hair as he spoke. "Well, we've been working on something big for the past decade or so. We have been trying to create soldiers so that our own children could stop going to war and dying over…potentially nothing. These soldiers are better, faster, and stronger than any human and they can withstand gunshots a lot better too. We'll be unveiling the fruits of our labor tomorrow afternoon."

Tomorrow…

That was too soon.

"Even after the fire? Isn't that soon?"

Damien cleared his throat. "Our experiment, we call her Katelyn, has not been harmed by the fire. We don't think this is soon enough but we are trying to be patient."

Jeremy growled at the TV. He barked, "Her name is Kat, you stupid old man!" With all the anger Jeremy could muster he threw a punch at the coffee table. It didn't break. Jeremy wasn't an angry person. Jason, however, was a different story.


	4. Chapter 4

Tomorrow. It was too soon. At the same time it wasn't soon enough.

Kat's hand slipped into the pocket of a lab coat and then she quickly took it out when her hand wrapped around something cold. The woman didn't take notice as she checked out her blood pressure.

"You seem to be very healthy." The woman smiled. It wasn't a smile you would give a child, it was a smile you gave a successful piece of work. "Damien will be so pleased." She pet Kat's head like a puppy and walked out.

Kat growled and turned on her heals to Nathan. "You need to run when you get the chance." She ordered the oldest.

Nathan was skinnier than he needed to be. He was too skinny. His portions were getting smaller and smaller every time. They were slowly going to starve him. "No," he tried to insist but she fit the key into the lock and the door swung open. "That was way too easy, Kat. It's probably a trap."

Kat nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's go. We have to go now. We can't wait till tomorrow."

Nathan shook his head. He was beginning to infuriate her. "Why not?" She hissed at him.

"Because then I can't guarantee I can save you, Kat." He snapped at her. Nathan almost never did but when he did Kat didn't back down. He was the alpha of the group not only because he was the oldest but because that was in his genes. However, it was in Kat's genes too. She wasn't afraid of his snapping or his Shifting.

Kat took his hands and tried to pull him out but he wouldn't budge. "I'll be right behind you, Nathan. I promise." She stared into his bright eyes. They were warm and reminded Kat of happy memories. "And then we'll find our brothers."

Nathan didn't look like he believed her but he slowly dragged himself out of the cage anyways. His legs looked stiff as he slowly straightened himself up. They couldn't do the same trick of setting everything on fire but they could do something similar. He had this evil look in his eyes and as soon as their eyes met she knew exactly what he wanted to do.

He would blow it all up and then, in the confusion, they would run. They would have to run faster than they've ever run before.

They waited for hours until the sun started to set. While she waited Nathan did his best to keep quiet as he gathered whatever he needed for the explosion.

Nathan was extremely smart but Jeremy was smarter. Jeremy was the one with the idea to set the building on fire and it would have worked if she hadn't gotten caught in the smoke. She never listened to Nathan when he told her to stay below the smoke. The fact was that when she felt the burning, choking feeling she thought she could escape into the smoke. It only left her unconscious and it left Nathan in a cage for a week. This was all her fault and she planned on fixing it.

"Hey," Nathan's hand came on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Kat looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah, you ready."

"Stay down, okay?" He ran to a device he strapped to the door and he pressed a button. A timer started. They only had 20 seconds before the running would begin.

* * *

The sounds of a bomb rumbled throughout the entire city. "What was that?" Jeremy demanded of Donny. Donny searched on his computer.

"This," he moved from the computer. Leonardo and Jeremy and everyone else minus Vince and Jason got a closer look.

"We're in front of a building that leading scientist Damien was using for his experiments. He was supposed to show everyone what he's been working on…" The newscaster man didn't seem the least bit concerned.

"Kat…" Jeremy whispered with worry.

Leonardo turned to his brother in the red mask. He didn't need to say anything to him. Raphael was ready to go. He turned toward Donny and Mikey. "You two stay here," he ordered. "Raph and I will go check out the situation."

Raph and Leo didn't take anything but their weapons. They quietly ran through the buildings in the dead of night all the way to a bright light. They couldn't get too close, not even the firefighters could take the heat of the fire.

Pacing and screaming at the uniformed men was a man, probably Damien. They could barely hear what he was shouting.

"What's that?" Raphael was pointing at a moving shape. It was hunched over and it looked like it carried something.

"Let's go," Leonardo gave the order simply. They both carefully made their way off of the building and into the shadows to the hunched body. It was a man in a lab coat and he held a child. Was this Kat? "Are you okay?" Leonardo kneeled next to the man. He was badly burned. "Raph, get the attention of those ambulances." When Raphael ran off he turned back to the man. "Who are you?" He asked.

"M-My name i-T-This was-K-Kat set the fire." He finally choked out. "T-That bitch s-set the fire. I'll kill her..." Finally he passed out even though he never really did finish his thought. Whatever Raphael did made the paramedics rush over quicker than Leonardo wanted them to. He quickly ran through the shadows back to the alley.

Raphael stood with his arms folded. "Well?"

Leonardo shook his head. "No, not Kat. In fact it seems she's the one that set this whole thing."

"Well then where is she?" His brother yelled while they watched another explosion blow out the windows.

"I don't know…" Leo felt useless now.

* * *

April watched the news in horror. When Leonardo and Raphael returned Jeremy was heartbroken. What would he tell Jason and Vince?

"What happened?" Jason stirred. She didn't even know they were awake.

"Kat and Nathan," Vince whispered quietly and pointed at the TV.

Jeremy still sat in front of them with his knees pulled up to his knees. "I don't believe it," he whispered.

Next to Vince and Jason, Jeremy didn't look like one of the youngest. Vince had the younger face but according to everybody Jeremy was the youngest boy. He was also the smartest. However, now, it didn't matter because they all lost someone.

"What the hell happened?" Jason stood. He seemed to forget one aspect that made April turn away.

"Jesus, Jason, Vince, put on some clothes!" Jeremy shouted.

"Not until you tell me what happened!" April could hear Jason pick up Jeremy by the front of his shirt.

"Jesus, I don't know! It just came on, Jason! Ow!"

"Stop callin' me Jesus!" Jason must have punched his little brother.

"It's an expression, you jerk! Now put these on!"

There were some shuffling feet and when April looked back everyone was mostly dressed. The shirt on Vince looked too big and nearly looked like a dress. Vince was extremely small but he was the exact middle of everyone.

"Kat…" Vince's eyes were far away while he watched the news. Tears started to spill out. "She can't be gone. I promised her I would show her...lots of cool things..."

Jason didn't bother putting on a shirt. The jeans were enough for him and he folded his arms. His abdomen was sculpted perfectly for someone who always got into fights. April had the feeling that if Raphael was human this is how he would look.

"Damn it, Nathan. You bastard," he whispered. No matter what he did he couldn't stop himself from shaking. He was trying to keep it together because now he was the alpha, he was the oldest one.

April stood and left the room.

"Where are you going, April?" Leonardo asked her.

"We should leave the three alone for a while. It'll take them some time to process what happened. I'll be back tomorrow." She promised.

* * *

Kat had ringing in her ears. The explosion was far greater than Nathan promised. He grabbed her hand. "Stay down," he ordered as he led her through the heat and smoke.

They crawled through glass on hands and knees. The heat was greater than she expected. Nathan never let her hand go. He held an iron grip. He wouldn't let her fall behind this time.

Kat remembered suddenly once when Jason was being mean to Jeremy and Vince. She was so small and she yelled at him. She wasn't afraid of Jason even though she was only three years old and he was seven. He was still angry but he picked her up and he wouldn't let anybody near her that day. He didn't let her out of his sight.

Why did this moment make her think of that? It was ironic. This situation was nothing like the one years and years ago.

Kat coughed violently. Finally, they made it out of a back door. Nathan stood, jerking her up beside him without even knowing, and they ran blindly into the darkness. When she turned to look back, when they were miles away, there was another explosion. Whatever the fire touched sent the glass of the windows flying out and showered the firefighters below.

Nathan wouldn't stop. They knew they couldn't stop. He didn't stop until they were out of the city but even then they didn't stop running.


	5. Chapter 5

"Come on!" Kat tried to tug Nathan along. The snow was coming down in a soft flurry but she could sense the oncoming storm. "We can't stay here when it hits!"

He had bags under his eyes and he couldn't breath in the icy air very well. He tried several times to sit down but Kat wouldn't allow him. His face was flushed a deep red like he had a fever and the icy chill showed in his pale face.

They stopped briefly on a hill and looked over at the city. It was so far away now and the lights were shining like a beacon. She prayed silently to any god that would listen that her brothers were safe and maybe they were apart of another pack somewhere far away from the god-forsaken city.

' The light from a car lit up the path. Nathan sat down on the side of the road, breathing heavily, his face flushed with the cold chilling his bones. Kat ran out in front of the car, flailing her arms wildly. For a moment she was afraid the car wouldn't stop but it did. The man who got out of the car looked had jet black hair and could have easily passed for a gang member if he carried the tattoo of their emblem.

"What the hell is your problem?" He scoffed.

"My brother is really sick! Please, can you help?"

The man's face changed, possibly realizing just how young she was, and he looked over at Nathan who began to growl. "What's your name, kid?"

"Kat and he's Nathan."

"Casey Jones." Casey strode over to Nathan and felt his head. "Come on, in the car. I have a place you kids can chill at until you feel better."

Kat's heart jumped. "Thank you so much, Casey Jones."

* * *

April had never seen boys sulk as much as these boys were sulking. She wished she could do something, anything, for them but she knew there was nothing she could do but wait in her apartment and hope they eventually move on. She felt useless sitting in her apartment. She felt her motherly instinct kick in but it had no place to go.

The TV went on and on about the fire. The warm mug in her hand felt hot the more they spoke about the sudden explosion.

The phone ringing startled her out of her sadness. April recognized the caller ID immediately and answered the phone happily. "Hey, Casey, where are you? I thought you said you'd be here by now."

"Yeah about that…" He sounded nervous and uneasy. "I don't think I'll be coming back tonight. Something happened unexpectedly."

They were silent for a few moments. "Well, are you going to tell me?" She finally sighed.

"Just some sick kids on the side of the road no big deal. I'm gonna help them out and give them a place to sleep for the next few nights."

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Gonna help out a few kids get off the street? That's mighty big of you."

He was silent for a few minutes longer than he should've been. "That's the weird thing, April. I've seen kids who live on the street and they don't look like any street kids I've seen. They're well fed and they must have had some access to showers in the last few days."

"Runaways then?"

"I don't know. Maybe? I'll see you when I know what to do with these kids, April."

* * *

Casey Jones' house was more of a farm with a barn. While she insisted on staying inside the barn he insisted they stay in the house. He even helped Nathan into a room and piled blankets on top of him.

Kat and Casey Jones walked downstairs after they thought Nathan was comfortable and asleep. "Thanks again, Casey Jones."

Casey waved his hand at the formality of the name. "Just call me Casey, Kat. What were you two doing all alone out in the middle of nowhere?" They walked to the kitchen and he put a kettle on the stove.

Kat sat at the table. "We were running away."

Casey looked like he wanted to laugh. "Parents no fun?"

She shook her head. "It was nothing like that. It was…I would rather not tell you." Something in her told her he wouldn't believe her story.

"Oh come on. Whatever it is I'm sure it's nothing you should be running from."

Kat ran her fingers through her hair. The knots tangled into more knots. She began to tell her story slowly, cautiously. She expected him to laugh with each turn but he listened with intent and an open heart that she began to relax. When she was done the kettle boiled and Casey smoothly fetched it from the stove.

"I would run away too but what about your brothers? Aren't you going to look for them?" He poured dark powder from a packet into the cup and then put the hot water in the cup.

"I don't know what we'll do." Kat admitted. "Maybe they're out of the city."

Casey shook his head and handed her the cup. "Doubt it. Careful it's hot."

Kat stared down with suspicion at the liquid.

"Oh crap! I gotta call April!" He stood and walked to the living room.

Kat sipped the contents. "Chocolate?" She tilted her head. "In a drink? That's strange." Still, she sipped it again.

In the living room the sound of glass shattering sent a chill down her spine. All she could think about were the similarities between the glass in the living room and the beakers in the lab.

The lab was her home and she helped destroy her home. Casey would only let them stay so long but he would probably kick them out as soon as Nathan got better and then where would she go?

* * *

Splinter watched as Leonardo tried in vain to get the boys to do anything but sit and feel sad but all it did was make Jason mad. He came to the conclusion that these boys may not be so different from his sons. Jason held in his anger and refused to acknowledge its existence. Jeremy was very smart for someone his age and for someone who was possibly limited to technology. Through the sadness he could catch glimpses of Vince's playful personality in how he tried to cheer up his brothers but the efforts bore no fruit. He wondered if Nathan was much like Leonardo, then.

The kettle whistling tore him from his thoughts. Splinter got up from the table and started to pour in the hot water over the teabags in four mugs and set them on trays. It was late and the turtle brothers were oddly quiet for how late it was.

Splinter carried the tray over to the wolf brothers and handed out the tea. After he handed out the tea he set the tray down on the coffee table.

"What do we do now?" Vince had a quiet voice.

"Now," Splinter started, "you boys will rest and turn off this news." He picked up the remote to turn it off but what the woman said next stopped him from doing so.

 _"…And they say they cannot find any bodies…"_ Splinter sat on one of the cushions that surrounded the low table.

"They made it out!" Jeremy said with a little bit of optimism and turned to his brothers. Jason held a guarded optimism but Vince joined him in his hopefulness. "They have to have made it out."

Splinter smiled a fond smile, a smile only reserved for his own sons.

"They have to be in the city!" Vince croaked out. "They have to be! They have to be!" Vince stood on the couch and looked at Jason. "They have to be, right Jason?"

Jason pursed his lips. "If Nathan was smart he and Kat went somewhere far away. Somewhere very far away."

"But Kat wouldn't leave us," Vince's happiness never faltered. He jumped up and down on the couch cushion. "She wouldn't! She wouldn't!"

Jason grabbed Vince's shirt and tugged him to sit down. "Damn it, kid, sit down before you hurt yourself."

The corner of his lips slipped up in a mischievous grin. He stood on the cushion and dumped his tea all over his brother. Jason was stunned for a moment but as soon as Vince took off, laughing with his arms out, the angry boy followed after him and promising to take off his hand. His tea sat abandoned on the tray. Jeremy sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Those two have enough energy to drive someone mad." He whispered.

Splinter chuckled and took the mugs and walked back to the kitchen.


	6. Chapter 6

In the past Kat was always afraid of riding in cars but today felt different. She wasn't locked in the back of an armored truck this was a real car. It was small and only fit four people comfortably and the trunk couldn't hold a lot of equipment. She stared out the window and played with the braid in her hair.

Nathan was always good at doing the things Kat imagined mothers would be doing for their daughters. He always brushed her hair and put it up in some way. He taught her how to do it too. Nathan made sure the boys didn't play with her too roughly and taught her how to sew, and how to do a lot of things she should've known how to do.

The city from afar was beautiful but up close the beauty faded. Kat wondered briefly if the city's beautiful glamour is what brought people inside to never escape.

When Casey parked in an alley Kat was the first one out. The cities many smells overwhelmed her senses. Two blocks down there was a Chinese restaurant, or maybe it was some form of Spanish or Mexican, either way it was overpowered by a Greek one. The smell of old books came from the north and from the south the sweat of a gym. She smelled gunpowder residue and the smell of bleach as someone cleaned up their sins. Decaying meat came from the same direction.

Nathan plugged his nose with his hands. "This city wreaks," he muttered darkly.

The two followed Casey into the building, which smelled very heavily of cleaning products, sweat, drugs, and alcohol but the further up they went the stench became less heavy. He finally stopped in front of a door and knocked with the back of his hand. Kat looked down at her knuckles then at Nathan who didn't appear curious at the way this man knocked.

The door opened slowly and the woman behind it smiled but it disappeared when she took notice of his guests. Her eyes rested on Kat and lingered longer than it should have. Kat's head itched with the memory of the woman behind the door but nothing willed itself up except for the memory of a mixture of scientists and reporters coming to check out the newest subjects. Kat was still a little kid and the memory had eaten itself up.

"April?" Nathan's voice sounded shocked.

"Nathan, Kat!" The strange woman came out and wrapped them both in a tight hug. Her scent was familiar but it wasn't her own. It was a mixture of Jeremy, Vince, and Jason, and others that weren't recognizable to her. April pulled away from the hug. "Your brothers will be so happy you both are okay."

"Are they here?" Nathan looked around her and into the apartment.

April shook her head. "No, they're…with some friends of mine. I'll take you to them."

Kat's eyebrows knit together and she looked sideways at Nathan. He shrugged. "You don't remember her, do you?"

She shook her head.

* * *

Leonardo was glad to see the boys doing something other than sulk. Jason and Raphael sparred often enough that they were hardly seen. Donny and Jeremy were often out of the way, talking about geeky computer stuff that nobody could ever understand. The only ones that often caused troubles during his meditation with Master Splinter were Vince and Mikey. They did everything and anything to cause everyone problems and it often enough ended with Raphael and Jason chasing the two and yelling curses at them.

Leonardo did his best to ignore all of this. He took several deep breaths in a vain attempt to clear his mind. When none of this worked he turned on the TV.

"Anyone call in for a pizza?" The voice was familiar and made him jump up.

"Casey, you're back!" He was accompanied by April and two unfamiliar children. His body stiffened with the sight. He knew that April and Casey would never allow anybody to invade their home without some form of reason but the reflex was one he couldn't help.

The sight of the two invaders made his entire home go quiet. It was as if time had stopped, like the two invader children had the power to make everyone and everything freeze indefinitely.

Vince was the only one who moved closer, peering at the two. "K-Kat?" The name was said in a whisper.

"Vince!" The girl ran forward, her bare feet padded loudly on the cement, and she hugged the small boy. Even she was much taller than him, which made Leonardo wonder for a moment if Vince really was the youngest after all.

Jeremy was next to move, he wrapped his arms around Vince and the girl. "We thought you…" His voice broke into a quiet sob.

The eldest boy walked up to Jason. "What? No hello?"

Jason shoved him. "Because of you I had to deal with these two crying all over me!" He wouldn't admit that he cried just as much.

When the girl finally broke from the hugs of the others she ran to Jason and threw her arms around his neck. He reluctantly returned the hug but he hugged her tightly. "Come on, you can't say you didn't miss us."

Jason snorted. "I didn't say that."

Vince pointed at Jason, "He cried too!"

Leonardo relaxed a little when Master Splinter approached the two new comers. He gave both of them smiles, as if they were old friends. "You two must be apart of their family."

The eldest boy nodded. "Yes. I'm Nathan and this is Kat."

Kat stood at attention, no longer holding anyone in her arms.

Leonardo and his brothers gathered around, behind Splinter as he introduced. "I am Splinter and these are my sons. Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo."

Leonardo and Nathan stared into each other's souls for a long while. Master Splinter taught them that often the eyes can lead into the souls of others and he felt that Nathan's soul was much like his own.

* * *

April had never seen so many kids tackle Casey for pizza. Four boxes of pizza disappeared in less than thirty minutes. Jason often enough grabbed pizza for both himself and for Kat, which allowed the others to fight for themselves afterwards.

She filled Casey in on what he missed while he was away. He seemed understanding of it all for the most part. After dinner Kat helped Splinter with making tea while the others split up into groups except for Leonardo and Nathan.

Kat sat next to Nathan when she and Splinter returned with the tea. "So, how is it you know us?" She asked April almost immediately.

Nathan spoke up for her. "When you were little Damien invited a bunch of people to the old lab. April was representing one of the companies she worked for. The idea was to get help and funding for the project. At the time it didn't hold too much hope but somehow Damien was able to convince them enough to send in scientists to help him out. April would come now and again."

Kat nodded along with the story. "I don't remember her too much." She admitted.

Nathan chuckled humorlessly. "That's not surprising. You had a hard time keeping everyone's names straight when she last visited."

Kat's eyes flashed with a horror that broke April's heart. She was remembering the trauma of the experiments but was Kats' trauma really worse than her brothers?

"You guys don't look anything alike," Leonardo noted.

Nathan nodded. "We didn't have families when we met either but we all bonded like family." There was something else he wanted to say but he kept it at bay. "Kat came much later than the rest of us, of course."

He didn't want Kat to know the truth. April mentally compared Kat and Damien and saw the likeness. Almost an exact copy if he wasn't forced to use a second set of DNA. She wondered whose DNA Damien used.

"If Kat is the youngest then why does Vince still look like a child?" Splinter voiced his confusion before anyone else could.

Kat spoke up, rattling off the details as if it should be obvious to them. "After Damien considered me a success the others were tested on for various things that didn't have anything to do with Operation Lycanthrope. I think they were planning on using these other tests for future test subjects. In Vince's case his youth was tested on. They were trying to stunt everything. The idea came from the saying a 'wolf in sheep's clothes,' though I'm sure the pun was a kind of accident."

Leonardo looked at Nathan. "What were you tested for?"

"Breakability. How long I could withstand certain torture methods but that backfired on them. Because the rest of us can't control our forms very well, with Kat being the exception, I ended up attacking everyone."

Casey shook his head. He'd been oddly quiet throughout this whole explanation. "What kind of a sick bastard do you have to be to test on _children_? Where did you all even come from?"

"Different places. Jason and I came from two different orphanages at different ages. Vince and Jeremy were either abandoned as babies or kidnapped, we really don't know." Nathan wouldn't say any more.

Kat whispered, "I came from the lab."

Casey leaned into April and muttered, "What does that mean?"

"She wasn't born like everyone else," April muttered back. "She was grown inside the lab in an environment similar to a-"

"Alright, alright, I understand now." He cringed knowing what the next words would be.

Kat turned to Nathan. "What do we do now?"

Nathan folded his arms and looked at Splinter. "May we stay for a little while until we can come up with a plan?"

Splinter smiled and nodded. "Please, stay as long as you need. I am sure the brothers wouldn't mind sharing our home."

"Thank you," Nathan nudged Kat and she muttered her thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

Kat never slept. If she closed her eyes she could see Damien and she could compare her image with his. She knew she wasn't like the others. She was grown in a lab while they had more natural births but that didn't explain this nagging feeling in her stomach that Damien was her father.

Finally she stood and picked her way carefully through the sleeping boys. She wanted to be alone, to think, but there wasn't a place for her to go except the kitchen. She sat on the counter, dangling her legs, and watching the bugs crawl on the floor.

 _"Her night vision is exceptional! I had no idea wolves could see so well!"_ A young scientist once said. She remembered talking often to him before he disappeared.

 _"What's that on your finger?"_ She heard her six-year-old voice ask him.

 _"This is a ring. I got married last year and I already have a child on the way!"_ He couldn't have looked older than twenty-two, an exceptional student, she remembered someone else saying.

After his child was born she never saw him again. It was the only time she'd ever had a real friendship with one of the scientists.

"Why are you up?" The old voice belonged to Splinter. He held his cane in his hands and leaned against it.

"Couldn't sleep," she croaked. "Why are you up?"

"I couldn't sleep either." He pulled up a chair at the table and Kat was quick to join him. "What's troubling you, child?" He tilted his head.

She shook her head. "Oh I don't know. I just…" Kat glanced over at her brothers. "When Nathan's stressed then I'm stressed. He doesn't know what to do and he doesn't want to overstay our welcome…whatever that means."

"What do you think you need to do?" He asked her.

"Stay here, I guess. Just until things above settle down and then we can go into the woods. But, if we do that I'm afraid they'll just repeat themselves. Why waste resources for someone you may not be able to find so they'll replicate whatever it is they did to get me. So I want to stay here in the city and find out how to stop them."

The old rat smiled the way Nathan smiled when he was proud of her. "What?"

Splinter shook his head but he still smiled. "You are so young but you are still so brave."

Kat shrugged. "I'm just doing what anyone would do. I don't want another little boy or girl to go through what we went though. To never know a normal life…. How did you and your sons get down here? What is your story, Splinter?"

"That story is a very long one."

Kat leaned forward with her arms on the table. "Well, we have all night."

* * *

When Leonardo sauntered from his room early in the morning he was surprised by the bark of laughter from the youngest wolf girl. From the balcony he could see them at the table, laughing and talking as quietly as they could but Kat's voice squeaked every now and again between her laughter.

Finally, they calmed down enough for them to watch the still sleeping boys. Leonardo thought it was safe to make his way down to the table.

"Good morning, my son," Master Splinter greeted.

"Good morning, Master Splinter. Kat." He greeted politely.

Kat didn't return the greeting. She stood and scurried back to the boys who were scattered among the couches and floor. He sat down next to Splinter. One by one his brothers followed, rubbing the sleep from their eyes and shuffling to the kitchen and then to the table with whatever food they found that hadn't grown mold.

The only boy that woke up was Jeremy. When he was awake he and Kat made enough noise to wake the others.

This morning was normal. This morning was quiet. It brought a small smile to Leonardo's face.

The walls were the first things that caved and it was followed by Kat's screaming.

When the smoke cleared the boys had jumped over her to protect her. Some of them were halfway morphed.

"What are those things?" Donny asked. Leonardo turned around to the hole in the wall. From it appeared partially morphed humans with dog-like snouts.

"Trackers," Jeremy told them.

"There you are," one of the trackers snickered, his face morphing back into a human man. "We've been looking everywhere for you pups. It's time for Kat to come home with us now."

This man had chocolate eyes, dirt brown hair, and tanned skin.

"Jason, Jeremy, stay with Kat. Vince, with me." Nathan ordered, he was partway into his shift. He looked like a grotesque monster with black fur that covered his body.

"Leo, our weapons." Donny started but was interrupted by the half shifted Nathan attacking the tracker.

* * *

Three. Splinter counted three trackers. Two of them were male and one female, all with the same abilities as the other children. Nathan rushed first followed by the smallest one, Vince. They were halfway transformed.

The turtle brothers easily calculated the situation and found weapons among objects others would find simple. Leonardo barked orders at Michelangelo to find their weapons. Splinter trusted them to their own devices. He backed away from the fight and toward the young wolf pups.

The entire fight was a mass of shell and fur and half morphed monsters. "Go for the neck!" Kat screamed at Jason and Vince.

Michelangelo came back with their weapons and distributed them among the chaos.

Vince was surprisingly strong for how small he was. He bit down on one of the male tracker's legs while the turtles teamed up on the female tracker. Splinter turned. "There might be a place to hide you three."

Jason shook his head. "No way am I running!"

He huffed, "This isn't the time to argue with you now. You must hide!"

"Master Splinter, behind you!" Raphael's voice rang a little too late. He was thrown aside toward the wall. It took several moments for him to force his eyes open and focus on who attacked him and the damage the attack caused. There was a fourth that he didn't see, a third male but he was smaller than the rest.

"Damon, what did you do?" Kat screeched Jason and Jeremy blocked Kat's path. Jeremy's body rippled as the change began and it only took several seconds for him to morph into a full-sized wolf.

"I came to bring you home, Kat. Damien-"

Kat shook her head.

"Damien," Jason looked toward her. "That's his name isn't it? That's the name of the Devil."

The young girl growled. "This isn't the time for that, Jason!"

Donatello's face blocked the view Splinter had of the other two. "Hold on, Master. Stay with me."

His eyelids felt heavy and they closed on their own. The sounds of explosions seemed like a distant dream.


	8. Chapter 8

Damon looked a lot like her. He was much older too.

 _"Kat, this is Damon. He's your Tracker."_ Damien told her when she was still four and he was a few years older than her. _"So don't ever run away."_ When Kat looked down at her feet he grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him, into his icy blue eyes. _"Do you understand, Kat? Don't ever run away from me again or he will be after you and he might even hurt you. Understand?"_

 _"Yes, I understand,"_ she whispered.

Damon looked like almost an exact copy of Damien. She remembered overhearing some scientists saying Damon was Damien's son, in a way, but Damien chastised them saying Damon was only a clone and nothing more.

He looked exactly like a man she hated. They would play together when they were children but when he turned 9 she never saw him again. He was now 19 years old.

"Kat, it's time to go home." He reached out toward her but Jeremy's growl made him flinch back.

"We aren't going back," Jason growled. "Not her and not any of us."

"That's just fine. We don't need the rest of you alive anyway and if Kat is injured that's her fault. She should've just done as she was told." He pulled a phone from his pocket and pressed a button. The explosion knocked her off her feet and sent her on her butt. The dust masked everyone's scent and stung her eyes.

A hand caught her wrist and covered her mouth when she screamed. "Geeze, quiet! It's just me!" The voice sounded like Jason but the green hand didn't fit. Raphael didn't wait for her to stand when he started running. She stumbled the first ten steps before regaining her footing.

"Where are we going? What about my brothers?" She demanded as she wiped the dust from the corner of her eyes.

"Look, if you're gonna whine the whole time I can just knock you out."

Kat stopped and he did too when he realized she had no plans of moving. "What about your brothers?"

Hands came on her shoulders and shoved her forward. "Don't stop, idiot!" Jason wasn't talking to her he was talking to Raphael. His face was covered in dust.

"I didn't stop she did!" Raphael complained. Without warning the turtle-creature dragged her forward.

"Jeremy and Vince-"

"The explosion gave us some cover, Kat." Jason explained. "It's messing with everybody's sense of smell so we've all taken separate directions. Don't worry everybody will be fine."

They didn't stop running until Jason heard Kat's breath squeaking. They hid near one of the several niches the sewers had. Jason wiped the dust from his face.

"Where? Where are we…?" She couldn't get the entire sentence out.

"I don't know but we'll figure it all out." Jason sat next to her, next to the muggy running waters. "We really shouldn't sit long." He warned.

She thought of her brothers fighting. Why were they always fighting for her?

Jason let her rest on his back while he and Raphael climbed up out of the sewers and into the setting sun. It cast enough shadows for nobody to notice or even question their sudden appearance.

In the alley with them was a van with so many wires that it reminded Kat of the back of one of the scientist's computers. Raphael opened the back doors and let Jason get in. Kat detached herself from his back and sat on the floor of the van. "We'll wait here for a few minutes and then we'll leave." He informed Jason.

Jason looked physically sick about being in a car. Kat took his hand and ran her thumb along his knuckles.

The back of the van had been hollowed out and the seats were replaced with computer monitors and two extra seats, stereo systems, a few extra weapons most of which were some form of gun or ninja-like weapon in a Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee movie, and lights that should have blinded the driver.

Raphael closed the back doors and got in the driver's seat and Jason moved to sit in the passenger seat. She couldn't hear the conversation well but she caught bits and pieces of what was said. Her thoughts were too loud for her to be paying attention to them. Kat sat by the door and watched, expecting it to open and to see Vince and Jeremy and Nathan, smiling at her.

* * *

Splinter was still unconscious as was Vince. Jeremy, Nathan, and Mikey were nowhere to be found. Leonardo felt some of the rubble move just enough for him to finally stand. When the explosion went off Donatello immediately protected Master Splinter. Vince was caught up in the rubble as it tumbled down from being thrown in the mix.

Leonardo protected Vince from any damage the rubble would've caused. "This is twice now," Donny muttered.

"Twice for what?" He knew better to ask but he couldn't help himself.

"Twice now that our home has been destroyed! Years of hard work ruined!" Donny was frustrated. He wanted to blame the children but couldn't bring himself to do it because they never knew any of this would happen.

Leonardo picked up Vince while Donny carefully carried their master. "Where's Raph?" Donny asked. "And Mikey? And the other Lycanthropes?"

He shrugged. "I didn't get a chance to see what happened when the explosion hit. We have to get up to the surface. We'll have a better chance up there than down here." His brother didn't argue much and for that he was grateful.

They wandered out of their home and into the sewers. Leonardo took one last look at the mess that was their home. Twice now someone has found them and tried to do them harm. This would be the second time they needed to seek April for shelter.

* * *

"That's been five minutes," Jason said. "Time to go.

Kat wanted to stay a little bit longer but she didn't argue. The car's engine hummed to life and the tires screeched on the asphalt. She didn't feel right. She felt like she was abandoning their family. She expected somebody, anybody, to open the back doors and hop on in but nobody came through.

"Did Nathan ever tell you where he wanted to set up?"

Kat looked at Jason. "What?"

Jason frowned. He was twisted awkwardly but his body somehow found its natural position as he crawled from the seat to her side. He pulled her close and she melted into the hug, with her head on his shoulder.

"They're okay, Kat," he whispered. "You'll see. We'll all meet up again real soon."

She nodded but somewhere in the back of her mind was a tiny seed of doubt.

"Did Nathan ever tell you where he wanted to set up our life?"

Kat shook her head. "We were discussing the woods and possibly finding another pack to take us but it was never for sure."

Jason's chest was steady with his breath and it rumbled when he spoke. "Since we have the van let's take off to the edge of the woods."

"Um…in case you haven't noticed I'm not made for the woods."

"You weren't made for the city either." Jason snarled. "It's the only place where those Trackers will lose us for sure!"

The van jerked forward. "What the hell?" Jason let go of Kat and crawled to the front seat.

Holes caused by machine guns tore through the door leaving Kat to scream and cover her vital organs and head with her legs and arms.

"Company," Raphael grumbled. "Take the wheel."

To Kat's surprise Jason complied and the two awkwardly switched seats while losing a lot of momentum. Raphael forced open the doors and cursed. "Jason, tire's ruined! You two will have to get as far away as you can."

Kat shook her head and stood. "No! I'm tired of running!" The van jerked again causing her to fall into Raphael and the two tumbled onto the asphalt. The truck behind them came to a sudden halt.

Men in black military-like uniforms methodically cut them off from the van and any other escape routes. There were three trucks of them in total. The Tracker she remembered to be named Virginia was among them.

Raphael waved his arms, encouraging Jason to go. She was again surprised to find that he complied.

Kat's hands morphed grotesquely and she felt the muscles tighten and pull. "Come at me!" She challenged.

* * *

April cooked breakfast and Casey snored on the couch. The sunrise would've been beautiful if she had seen it from Casey's home instead of her apartment. The smog from the New York City streets made everything seem less beautiful.

She thought of Kat and her brothers and Splinter and the turtles. There was no escaping the fate of helping a lost and diverse family in some way. Not that she was complaining, of course, in fact this thought brought a big and bright smile to her face.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

They were in rapid successions. April took the pan off the stove and walked to the door.

 _Knock. Knock. Knock._

"Coming!" April yelled and opened the door shortly after. Leonardo and Donatello stood with small scratches with Vince and Splinter who were unconscious. "Oh my god, boys, what happened?" She moved to allow the two inside. While Donatello shut the door she jogged across the room to Casey and shook him until he woke up. There was no warning for him to move except Leonardo setting Vince on the couch. He jumped on his feet.

"You could've asked!" Casey complained.

"What happened?" April asked again.

Donatello set Splinter on the loveseat. "We were attacked."

"By who?" _Did they find Kat?_

"Something called Trackers," Leonardo explained.

"Trackers…I heard of them. Never actually got to see them because they were always out training."

"Alright, fill us in." Donatello and Leonardo sat on the floor.

"Trackers are…if I remember correctly, they're like Lycanthropes but their DNA is closer to a bloodhounds than a wolf. A different team of scientists run by Damien created the Trackers because they feared Lycanthropes would be unsuccessful. While Kat was being created they ran similar tests including on the clone known as Damon. When Kat proved successful, however, there was no more use for having Trackers. Just before the day for their…" She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "…Before they were going to be killed off was about the time Damien became very weary of the Lycanthropes. Everyone was seeing a change of heart when the boys were introduced to Kat. So, to keep them in line, everyone was introduced to the trackers. The Trackers can hold more than seventeen different scents and remember them but at the time that wasn't known so they assigned a Tracker to each child. When they found out more scents could be given to them and they would remember all of them were assigned one duty: to retrieve Kat if she ever escaped."

Donatello and Leonardo looked at each other.

"Guys, where are the others?" Casey inquired. "And where are the wolf kids?"

"We were split up." Donatello said solemnly. "Whoever has Kat is about to be overwhelmed."

"This is a big city. There's no way we can look everywhere." Leonardo sighed.

"Maybe you don't have to," April picked up the remote to the TV. She knew that if a big bad wolf were on the loose a journalist would definitely pick up the story. She turned on the TV.


	9. Chapter 9

Kat's jaws closed on another man's throat. Her aim was not to kill but they gave her no choice. She had brown and white fur as a wolf and she was bigger than most naturally wild wolves. If she stood on her hind legs she'd be the size she was when she's human.

She growled at Virginia as she circled Kat and she dropped the half dead man. Virginia's dog form was much smaller than Kat. She looked like a husky.

Raphael held off the men as best as he could.

Virginia wasn't the one who attacked first. Luis, a big boxer-looking dog, attacked her unexpectedly from behind. He tried to go for the throat but she threw him back to the ground and pounced away.

Virginia slammed into her side before Kat could figure out what to do next. Her jaws locked on the nap of Kat's neck and held her. She growled at the Tracker girl. This girl was not dominant.

"Kat!" Raphael yelled.

Kat hoped her eyes told him to run. If it did he didn't listen. "Taser him," She heard Damon order. The men had tasers attached to sticks that they easily subdued Raphael. Damon walked over to Kat and Virginia calmly. "Revert back, you two."

Kat growled at him. Virginia didn't revert back but she stared at Damon for further instructions.

Damon's hand replaced Virginia's jaw giving her a chance to revert back to her human phase. When Kat continued to growl Damon forced her on her back and grabbed her throat. His thumb rested in the area where he could easily and effortlessly cut off her airway. "Kat, don't make me do this," he didn't sound like he was pleading he sounded almost pleased that she was resisting.

He barely pressed his thumb in and she struggled to find the air. She found the energy to finally go back to her human form. Her hands raked down Damon's arm. One of her fingernails made him bleed.

Damon punched her in the stomach. The air was knocked out of her lungs and even after he released his thumb from her throat she struggled to breathe. He at least allowed her the courtesy to sit up and he even helped her sit up.

"Where's Jason?" He barked at Luis.

"He escaped in the van. This turtle thing is the only one we found."

Virginia nodded toward one of the apartment windows. "We've got some fans."

Kat looked up slowly. A man was recording them with a phone. No doubt he'd send this in to the press.

"You," he pointed at an uninjured soldier. "Go confiscate the phone. You." He pointed at the group surrounding Raphael. "Leave no evidence behind."

"No, don't hurt him!" Kat grabbed the front of Damon's shirt. "Please, don't hurt him!" She pleaded.

The group paused to receive further orders.

Damon nodded for the group to continue and they did.

"Damon, don't!" But he didn't listen. He continued barking orders and she continued to scream at him.

Over the sounds of everything blurring together she heard nothing. One of the soldiers came at her with the taser while Damon walked away from her. Kat crawled backward, pleading for the man to stop. Behind her another man grabbed her and held her steady while the taser found a clean patch of skin to burn. The jolts of electricity numbed her body but she tried kicking it away. The two men started to call for more men and more tasers. More and more of them showed up the longer she struggled until finally she had no energy left.

At this time she remembered crawling through the fire and trying to strangle herself in the smoke and ashes. She should've let Damon do it to her today.

* * *

There was nothing on the news, to April's surprise. Unsurprisingly Donatello found a video online. The whole thing was horrendous to her. They were surrounded by Damien's men, Jason was nowhere in sight. They were outnumbered and easily taken down after the fight and then they ganged up on Raphael and Kat.

Vince, who was now awake, watched the whole video. April didn't think that letting him watch was such a good idea. "Where's Jason?" The usually quiet kid demanded the answer.

"It looks like he's not there. He must've hidden," Leonardo concluded.

"No!" Vince slammed the laptop close. "No, he wouldn't have abandoned Kat like that! There must be more!"

Casey knelt to his height. "Hey, hey, we'll find them, don't worry."

Vince's shoulders started to shake. He was trying to control his fear and rage but he did a terrible job at it. April knelt down and he immediately hugged her and cried into her shoulder. "I wish Nathan was here." He sobbed.

April looked up at Leonardo. "Find them," she pleaded. "Please, find them and bring them home safely."

Leonardo nodded. "We will, I promise."

* * *

Where do you even start to look for wolves and turtles in the middle of the city? Leonardo didn't know where to start looking! Donatello tracked the phone's location when it was posted and did a bunch of things that was too complicated for Leonardo to understand.

There was nothing else to do but wait.


	10. Chapter 10

April watched the news with irritation.

 _"We have recaptured and detained our experiments. Tomorrow we will show the president a preview of our work,"_ Damien was bragging on every channel saying nearly the same twisted thing.

 _"Where are they being held?"_

 _"I'm not at liberty to say. Now excuse me."_ He stepped into a black car that was surrounded by police.

"We don't have enough time," Donatello admitted reluctantly. "I won't be able to track them in time."

April nodded. "That's okay. Maybe we can still get in."

"How?" Leonardo challenged.

"I still have some friends who work for Damien. I'll pull some strings."

"And what about Raphael?"

April looked solemnly at Leonardo. She loved the brothers all the same but she wasn't even sure where Raphael was. If they knew maybe they would know where Kat was too.

* * *

When she woke up again it was to the sound of Damien's voice screaming at someone. Virginia's whimpers went unnoticed by everyone around her.

Kat opened her eyes even though she didn't want to. Bars of a small cage surrounded her. The young 19-year-old girl was curled up while Damien continued to kick her and scold her. The only thing that stopped him was hearing Kat growling from her spot.

"Get away from her!"

Damien turned on his heels and walked away from Virginia. Kat sat up. "How do you feel?" His voice held no warmth that had been there before.

Kat didn't answer.

"It doesn't matter how you feel. Sick or well you're going to be the star of our show."

She stared at him. She didn't care. "Where's Raphael?"

"Who?"

"The turtle! Don't tell me they left him on the street!"

Damien tapped his chin, probably trying to decide whether or not to tell her. "You shouldn't worry about the turtle anymore. He won't be bothering anybody ever again."

Kat wanted to lunge at him. She wanted to feel his throat in her jaw.

What if she saw Leonardo again? How could she face him knowing his brother was…?

Hot tears poured down her cheek. There was nothing else she could do but cry.

Damien knelt down to be her eye level. "Don't dwell on it too much."

She pressed her palm to her mouth. She felt sick. All she kept thinking was how stupid she was to have knocked them both out of the van but at least Jason got away, right?

Damien got back to his feet and everyone but Virginia left the room. Virginia lay so still Kat half thought she was dead.

"Why?" Virginia croaked. "Why did you stand up for me?"

Kat didn't know how to answer. She could only think of Raphael. She screamed into her hand as she finally allowed the sobs to freely fly out from her chest. Why was she so stupid to try and stand up to them? Why did she have this impulse to protect her pack?

Virginia never sat up. "Your turtle friend is fine, Kat."

This stopped Kat from crying and she looked up and stared at Virginia.

"We lost him and Jason both shortly after Damien left. We don't know where they are."

A small spark warmed Kat's chest. It allowed her to take her hand away from her mouth and breathe. "Thank you."

Virginia nodded. "Sorry I kicked you…"

Kat never acknowledged the apology. Soon Virginia would snap out of the friendly daze and she'd be back on Damien's side.

* * *

Despite objections from the others April insisted she and Casey should go alone. "There are other people you need to find, remember? Jason, Nathan, and Jeremy need your help just as much." She argued before she left but she couldn't get rid of this feeling in the pit of her stomach.

April shook her knee nervously as everyone awaited patiently for Damien. All around her were scientists, military and government personnel, Secret Service, The President and First Lady, and others who she knew helped with the project.

Casey put a hand on her knee. "Calm down," he whispered. "You looking nervous will make others nervous." Unlike April, Casey was street smart. He knew how to appear calm and relaxed.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Everyone waited in the chill of the coming winter. It bit at everyone's skins but she was the only one who couldn't feel it.

Finally, Damien took to the makeshift stage. "Welcome everyone," at his voice everyone fell silent except for a few whispers. "I'm very glad to have you all here. I apologize for the delay and disruptions leading to today's event. Somebody got a little stage fright and, well, you all know how teenage girls can be." There were some small laughs. Escorted onto the stage by personnel who were armed with tasers and armored by what looked almost like mattresses. "I'm here to show you a new way we can fight wars. These people will be faster and a lot more durable. We will demonstrate a few things. Do not worry anything that may look hurtful won't be all that harmful to her. This is because she is much more durable, and stronger, and faster than us."

April felt sick to her stomach.

Kat looked so tired, her knees were locked in a half bent position, her eyes looked distant and puffy like she'd been crying. She looked like she'd given up. "What have they been doing to her?" Casey whispered, trying hard to control a whole range of emotions.

"She is named Katherine or Kat for short. Katherine is the result of the DNA of an unnamed donor and myself. Grown in a lab and grown up in a lab this is her first real taste of the outside world."

Someone stood, "So in a way she's like your daughter."

Damien nodded. "In a manner of speaking."

Casey's jaw locked. His mask was slowly slipping away.

Damien looked at Kat and nodded. "Go ahead and show them."

She looked at the armored men from the corner of her eyes then took a deep breath. Her skin rippled and fur poked out from her skin. Bones snapped out and back into place. The whole scene was so grotesque that April had to finally look away until the people's gasping made her look back up.

Kat was almost more beautiful as a wolf than a human! Her fur was a beautiful deep red-brown with white spots dotting her back and her paws were also white. She had deep blue eyes like her human self.

Casey looked at April. "When are we supposed to crash this party?"

"When the show's over and everyone has been dismissed. That will be your only chance."

April was afraid that Casey wouldn't wait that long.

* * *

Splinter felt like he'd been out for days! In reality it had only been a day and a half. Vince was happy and surprised when he woke up.

"Where is everybody?" He asked the wolf boy slowly.

Vince's dark brown eyes darted at the door. "Gone out to save Kat and Raphael."

He shot up but immediately regretted it because his head swam. He laid back down. "What happened?"

"Jason and Raphael and Kat escaped. But Jason is missing. And Raphael and Kat were attacked and Kat was taken away from us and Raphael is missing too. And Nathan and Jeremy are nowhere to be found either but I'm less worried about them and Jason." Vince was very childlike in every aspect down to his speech.

He pat the boy's head. "They'll find them," or at least he hoped they could.


End file.
